The Last of Us (Laurinah)

summer: part 1

SUMMER

Lauren was out of breath. Her heart raced. Her chest pounded. Her feet ached. All she wanted to do was scream at the top of her lungs.

But she couldn't.

She was trapped in an apartment condo that once belonged to some bachelor of a business man. The furnishings and deco of the apartment still remained, even after 20 years of the plague. It was a dusty, quaint little place and it seemed untouched by humanity for the last decade.

Lauren took in another breath.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." She muttered to herself as she slid to the floor, head buried in her hands.

She had screwed up royally. She wasn't supposed to be out of the safe zone this late nor was she even supposed to be alone. Keana warned her. But her idiotic ass just had to go out and wander around. That's when she ran into several infected, including one terrifying clicker.

Thankfully, she managed to slip away, running as fast as her legs could carry her. She slipped through cracks in narrow alleyways and by some sort of miracle lost the horde of infected that were nipping on her heels.

And that's where she was at now. In some relic of an apartment. Night had fallen and she would have to stay put until the sun rose in five hours.

She took in another breath, her heart already slowing down to its normal pace.

She lifted her head and looked over at her backpack. She pulled it closer, and then unzipped it. She took out her walkie and switched it on. She pressed down on the talk button before bringing it to her mouth, "Anyone there?"

Just static.

Of course she'd get nothing. She was a few miles out of the safe zone.

"Idiot." 

Sighing, she tossed the walkie aside and rummaged around in her bag. She pulled out her handgun and inspected how many bullets she had left. 

"Just four."

Great. Not only was she stuck outside the safe zone, she had only four bullets to protect herself. She hoped she didn't run into anymore infected, or even worse, hunters.

She set the handgun aside, and rose to her feet.

Wandering over to the small kitchen area, she ran her fingers along the kitchen counter top. Dust coated each of her fingertips. Making a face, she wiped her hand against her jacket before proceeding further into the kitchen. 

The place really hadn't been touched in years. Which got her wondering if there were any food left in the cabinets. Surely the owner would have left a few cans, right?

She pulled open the closet cabinet to her, expecting a huge assortment of canned goods.

Instead, she got nothing. It was completely empty. 

She moved over to the next cabinet. 

Also empty. 

They were empty except for the last one which held a can of green beans. Her face scrunched up in disgust at the thought of eating green beans, especially one that was over a decade old. She shut the cabinet door quickly and moved away from the kitchen to the living room area. 

Her eyes immediately caught sight of the vinyl player laying atop on one of the shelving areas in the room. She recalled briefly of the time her father explained to her what an actual vinyl player was, how people opted to use an old, out of date thing rather than using the latest technology to listen to music.